—D. H. Lawrence

I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me.

That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, 
and my blood is part of the sea.

There is not any part of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surfaces of the water.

William James

Mysticism Defined by William James 1902 in "The varieties of religious experience"

America's great psychologist, William James provided a description of the mystical experience in his famous collection of lectures published in 1902 as The Varieties of Religious Experience. In Lectures 16 and 17 he stated:

"...propose to you four marks which, when an experience has them, may justify us in calling it mystical...:

1. Ineffability - The handiest of the marks by which I classify a state of mind as mystical is negative. The subject of it immediately says that it defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words.

2. Noetic Quality - Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discurssive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority for aftertime.

3. Transiency - Mystical states cannot be sustained for long.

4. Passivity - Although the oncoming of mystical states may be facilitated by preliminary voluntary operations, as by fixing the attention, or going through certain bodily performances, or in other ways which manuals of mysticism prescribe; yet when the characteristic sort of consciousness once has set in, the mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance, and indeed sometimes as if he were grasped and held by a superior power.

Yogapedia explains Consciousness

Some yogic philosophers, such as Swami Kriyananda, believe that consciousness is the absolute or purest state. Matter is seen as the manifestation of vibrating energy; and that energy itself is seen as the manifestation of Consciousness. In this sense, it is said that consciousness cannot be defined because once it is, it is no longer pure.

Yogic practices, such as mindfulness and meditation, allow practitioners to explore and understand the nature of consciousness through introspection, or examination, of the mind. To better understand consciousness, the practitioner shifts their focus from the things they are aware of to the instrument of their awareness, which is Consciousness itself.

Many yogis believe that the state of individual consciousness is just part of a collective universal Consciousness, like a wave is part of an ocean. In this sense, Consciousness is what connects all beings and things.

                                                                

Irina Serban, Full Circle

“Be silent like a rock, deeply rooted and straight like a tree, bend like a reed in the wind, listen to the sounds that your ears ignore, and feel the world through your intuition. The latter will never betray you, your senses will!”

                                                                               

Kolbrin Manuscripts

The truly awakened soul is beyond carnal lust and mortal grief, his love is alike for all my creation and thus he shows supreme love for me. By this love alone he knows me in truth, who and what I am, and knowing me in truth he participates in my whole being. Those who seek union with me must first prepare a dwelling place for me in their hearts; but those who are not pure, those who do not fight for me, those who have not suffered under the discipline of love and those without wisdom cannot attain union, no matter how much they strive. I am the God of illumination, I am the God of enlightenment.

Tatvamasi

Tatvamasi is a term that is used in Hindu and yoga philosophy usually translated as “I am that” or “Thou art that.” The term comes from the Sanskrit, tat, meaning “that”; tvam, meaning “you”; and asi, meaning “you were.” The interpretation varies among the various yoga and Hindu traditions. Tatvamasi — sometimes spelled tat tvam asi — is one of the Great Utterances or Great Contemplations known as the Mahavakyas, which are found in the ancient Sanskrit texts of the Upanishads. 

Unknown Author

—Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Self is like a powerful magnet within us. It draws us gradually to itself, though we imagine we are going to It of our own accord: when we are near enough, It puts an end to our activities, makes us still, and then swallows up our personal current, thus killing our wrong personality. It overwhelms the intellect and over floods the whole being. 

We think we are meditating upon It and developing towards It, whereas the truth is that we are iron filings and It is the Atman-magnet that is pulling us towards Itself. Thus the process of finding the Self is a form of Divine magnetism.

Joseph Campbell

The divine manifestation is ubiquitous, only our eyes are not open to it. Awe is what moves us forward.

Live from your own center. The divine lives within you.
The separateness apparent in the world is secondary. 

Beyond the world of opposites is an unseen, but experienced, unity and identity in us all.

You must return with the bliss and integrate it.
The return is seeing that the radiance is everywhere.

The world is a match for us. We are a match for the world.
The spirit is the bouquet of nature.

Sanctify the place you are in.

Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras

Truth is the same always. Whoever ponders it will get the same answer. Buddha got it. Patanjali got it. Jesus got it. Mohammed got it. The answer is the same, but the method of working it out may vary this way or that.

—Yoga Vasistha

Neither freedom from sorrow nor realization of one’s real nature is possible as long as the conviction does not arise in one that the world-appearance is unreal.


—Yoga Vasistha

...

Q: Will there not be realization of the Self even while the world is there (taken as real)? 

M: There will not be.
 
Q: Why?

M: The seer and the object seen are like the rope and the snake. Just as the knowledge of the rope which is the substrate will not arise unless the false knowledge of the illusory serpent goes, so the realization of the Self which is the substrate will not be gained unless the belief that the world is real is removed.


—Sri Ramana Maharshi

...

Without the projection of the mind, the world cannot exist. That world that appears to you in your dreams at night is unreal, and so is the world that appears to you when you are awake. There is no difference whatsoever.

—Jac O'Keeffe

...

The only way of knowing reality is to be it. The mind cannot reach it. To perceive it does not need the senses; to know it, does not need the mind.

—Nisargadatta Maharaj